Childhood Memories
by otter cook
Summary: Not very many people remember this, but when Peter was young, a girl his age lived across the street.


**Title:** Childhood Memories  
**Author:** Dragondream08  
**Rating:** G  
**Pairing:** Johnny Storm x Peter Parker  
**Fandom:** Marvel universe (Fantastic Four and Spider-man)  
**Word Count:** 961  
**Disclaimer:** None of it's mine. Sigh.  
**Comments: **This is the first ficlet I've written for a series, listed on my livejournal, a link to which you can find on my profile. I've been in a writing mood, and as an exercise, I wrote that list and told myself to write a drabble / ficlet for each item. I should probably be going in order, but this third one just really wanted itself written. So, this is number 3 on the list: (He) wants to be a mother. (In a distinctly _not_ mpreg-y way.)

THIS STORY IS SET IN MY SELFISH SPIDER UNIVERSE. YOU CAN FIND THE MAIN STORY ON MY PROFILE. GO READ IT, PLEASE. THANK YOU.

It's not proof-read in any way (except by me) so if you find a mistake or typo, please tell me!

**Start. **

Not very many people remember this, but when Peter was young, a girl his age lived across the street. She was an incredibly vivacious little thing: cute, outgoing, smart, and manipulative. Every Saturday, when Peter went outside to play in his yard, she would join him. Somehow these encounters always ended with Peter playing with the girl in her house, and somehow _these_ encounters always ended with the two of them parading around her house in overly large dresses, skirts, shawls, scarves, and the gaudiest jewelry that Peter can ever remember seeing. There were a few occasions in which Peter even found himself sitting on a stool in front of a mirror, somewhat despondent, as she painted his face with all the make-up that her mother would let her sneak away. And when she was done with him, her mother would swirl into the room with a benevolent smile, right on cue to snap a picture – every single time (something that thoroughly amazed Peter considering the woman only seemed to be home half of the time).

He was fascinated with her mother, whom he knew only as Mrs. G. Not in a weird way; she was just one of those persons who demands respect and attention, and who leaves Peter filled with admiration. (She might have actually been the very first person who caused him to feel this way.) He remembers that she was a robust woman, yet still the most aesthetically beautiful person he'd yet seen in his short life, and she carried herself in a soothing, munificent manner. But the thing that he remembers most accurately about her – the thing that absolutely astounded him as a child – is that she was a (successful, wealthy, caring) single mother. It was such a shock for him, the first time the girl told him loudly that she had no father, because even though his situation was not the most common – how many people did he know who lived with their senescent aunt and uncle? – it was, to him, far more normal than only having _one _guardian.

He didn't know how to handle the situation, so at the beginning he was very awkward around Mrs. G. It wasn't long, however, before her charisma enraptured him and he understood how she was able to make up for the lack of another parent. She was simply such an omniscient presence that, on the few occasions that he was keenly aware of the age of Aunt May and Uncle Ben, he wished desperately that she was _his_ mother. He wouldn't have cared that Mrs. G didn't get home until six or seven o'clock each night or that he'd be required to help her prepare dinner every day. He wouldn't, because she'd be a perfect mother anyway.

Then, when he was eleven, the girl and Mrs. G got carried away on the wind. (They moved to a more appropriate, wealthier neighborhood.) There wasn't anything dramatic about their departure; no party, no tears, hardly even any goodbyes. The only remotely notable thing that happened was a short exchange between Peter and Mrs. G in which he got a copy of every single picture the woman had ever snapped of him. (Aunt May immediately took them and placed them in a small, discrete photo album.)

Peter went on with his life.

There was a period in his prepubescent and early teenage years where his thoughts never strayed to his once neighbors. He was too distracted with his goals, his new awareness of the world around him, and the general excitement of life. But then he grew even older, and the stereotypical dream of marrying a nice woman and having two children fixed itself in his mind. Images of Mrs. G then snuck into his mind, and Peter vowed to himself to be just as good a father as she was a mother.

Then Fate threw him a curve ball and he found himself at the feet of Johnny Storm. And though he'd never predicted that he'd fall in love with another man, there's no denying that exactly such a thing occurred. Through toil and really quite much more stress than is necessary, he found himself in the compromising position of Johnny's partner.

And he found himself confronted with the idea that he might not have any children. Ever. To put it lightly, Peter was depressed for days after this realization struck: he made distinctly fewer snarky comments as Spider-man; when he was at his apartment, he huddled in the warmest corner (which, incidentally, was his closet) and did his college homework; and when he was with Johnny he was significantly subdued. One Saturday night, when he asked the blond if they could just stay in the Baxter Building and watch movies while eating ice cream, the Storm brother cracked and demanded what the hell was wrong with him.

Reluctantly, he told Johnny his woes. Afterwards, he fidgeted with the sweater he wore and refused to look at the other man, but then his boyfriend reached over and patted him on his cheek.

"I think you've got it wrong," he said, and Peter remembers exactly what the blond looked like when he uttered that: his eyes burned softly like dying embers in a fireplace and his lips quirked slightly upward as his rough hands brushed against the brunet's neck. "You're Spider-man, one of the protectors of this city. It's cheesy, I know, but all those people that you've saved are your children, owing their life to you." He paused. "Besides, it's not like, if you really want, we can't adopt or something."

Peter thinks that it's moments like those that make him love the other man so much. And as long as he's got Johnny, why would he need anybody else?

** End.**


End file.
